Opponents faking Baghdad blast news, Iraq’s Abadi warns

Iraqis inspect a charred vehicle on the site of a bomb attack in Sadr City, a majority Shia neighborhood in the northeast of the capital Baghdad, on January 2, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has warned that some of his political opponents are faking reports of bombings in Baghdad to undermine him.

"There are parties exaggerating the situation... I always say that one fallen martyr is one too many, but spreading fear among the people, that's called a fifth column," he said during a press conference in Baghdad on Tuesday.

On Monday, at least 39 people were killed and 57 more injured after a terrorist car bomb attack, claimed by Daesh, rocked a busy square in Sadr City, a Shia-populated suburban district of Baghdad.

A number of smaller bombing attacks across the city were reported by local media outlets on the same day. Abadi stressed that these smaller incidents were all fabrications.

“Look at the series of bombings announced in Baghdad…You are journalists - go to the alleged spots in Baghdad. Were there victims there, were there really bombs there, were there any martyrs?" he said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi addresses the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 22, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Abadi, without referring to names, went on to accuse his opponents of intentionally attempting to show the security situation in Iraq worse than it actually is.

"They claim that they back the security forces on the front lines and then they stab them in the back," Abadi said. "Using innocent blood for the sake of a political feud is not right."

Gruesome violence has plagued parts of Iraq ever since Daesh terrorists mounted an offensive and took control of portions of the Iraqi territory more than two years ago.